Witches, Witchcraft, and Witch-Hunting in Early America

As the seventeenth century drew to a close, the town of Salem Village in colonial Massachusetts was in a state of crisis. In early 1692, a group of girls began exhibiting strange behaviors, deemed by a doctor to be supernatural in origin. When interrogated, they confirmed the Puritan colonial officials' greatest fears: their "afflictions" were signs of Satanic possession. The girls claimed they had been the victims of witchcraft; and they knew exactly who was to blame. Over the course of the next few months, the numbers of victims of witchcraft, and those accused of "afflicting" them, rose dramatically, fueling widespread concerns about a diabolical plot threatening to destroy Salem's "godly" community. Between 1692 and 1693, more than two hundred people were accused of practicing witchcraft and twenty were executed. Although this witchcraft crisis was over almost as quickly as it emerged, it left deep marks on Salem, New England, and the American imagination.What happened here? How did ideas of witchcraft and Satanic possession fit into the Puritans' larger world view? Who was accused of practicing witchcraft and why? Focusing on these and other questions, this course explores the history of witchcraft and witch-hunting in colonial North America and the broader Atlantic World. Over the course of the term, we will read contemporary diary entries, letters, sermons, and trial transcripts to gain a better understanding of the experiences and belief systems of victims, accusers, magistrates, and Puritan clergy involved in events such as the Salem Witch Trials, as well as lesser-known incidents of witchcraft and possession. We will aim to make sense of these phenomena within the religious, cultural, and social context of seventeenth-century New England, paying close attention to questions of power, gender, race, and colonialism.